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Up Markets says it’s boarding up the Playhouse for Irma

The Royal Poinciana Playhouse’s windows and doors were unprotected Thursday morning as Hurricane Irma moved toward South Florida. Landlord Up Markets says it will board up the theater with plywood. Photo by Jan Sjostrom

Posted: 1:44 p.m. Thursday, September 07, 2017

The shuttered Royal Poinciana Playhouse was unprotected Thursday morning as Hurricane Irma barreled toward South Florida.

The windows and doors of the theater and adjacent Celebrity Room, a former restaurant, were bare of shutters or sandbags.

But help is on the way, said Alexandra Patterson, spokeswoman for landlord Up Markets, which controls the Royal Poinciana Plaza under a long-term lease.

“We have directed the on-site team to protect the windows and doors of the Playhouse and celebrity room with plywood,” she said.

Up Markets’ team is placing sandbags in front of doors property-wide, closing existing shutters and securing or removing loose objects, she said. Tenants are responsible for protecting their own spaces, she said.

The work should be done by 5 p.m. Friday, the deadline for evacuating the island under a town order, she said.

The landmarked theater, which has been vacant since 2004, has been the subject of multiple lawsuits attempting to force the plaza owner to re-open it. The Town Council has required regular reports from Up Markets on its progress in finding a tenant. In July, Patterson assured the council that the company expects a letter of intent to lease the theater be executed “any day.”

The Playhouse is protected under a 1979 property use agreement between the plaza’s owners and the town.

John Page, director of the Planning, Zoning and Building Department, said he was unaware, however, of any legal obligation the Plaza management might have to erect storm shutters or take similiar steps to secure the property from hurricane damage.

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